Not a gun, just ID says NYPD officer accused of threatening cyclist

A cyclist who says he saw a gun being pointed at his face, actually saw an identification badge, it has been claimed.

The off duty police officer involved in the confrontation with cyclist Ryan Stepka - which we reported earlier on road.cc - claims he was only identifying himself and not threatening to shoot the rider, reports the New York Post.

Officer Joe Carrasco, 29, of the city’s 28th Precinct, has denied drawing a weapon and has told the New York Police Department’s internal investigators that the incident is all a misunderstanding, the newspaper says. Stepka, however, is entirely clear about what happened.

“The gun was pointed at my face with the guy staring at me in my eyes. He had a look of death in his eyes,” the newspaper quotes Stepka as saying. "He looked me square into my eyes, like, 'I will shoot you in the face.' "

Carrasco has been placed on modified duty while the incident is investigated. According to the newspaper’s sources, the policeman has said that he almost hit Stepka while trying to park and that while the pair argued, he showed him his police ID.